Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Production Is on Indefinite Hold

4 months ago

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is on hold for the time being as Disney and Marvel look to find a new director for the project. James Gunn was swiftly fired from the project in July after some old offensive tweets were unearthed by some online trolls who didn’t agree with the director’s political stance. The entire cast of the franchise got together to write a public letter to Disney in an effort to get Gunn reinstated. However, it appears that the door for Gunn to return to Disney has been permanently shut.

According to sources close to the matter, the production crew for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 has been let go. The crew were told to look for work elsewhere because the production is on indefinite hold at the moment. A small group was to assemble this fall to begin the pre-production process with the entire crew scheduled to come together early next year to start filming. Another source says that Disney and Marvel are currently in a “regrouping” stage.

The Guardians of the Galaxy 3 release date was never publicly announced, but the timeline has been “pushed out,” according to sources. It looks like the movie is still a priority for Marvel and Disney, but it is uncertain if and when it will ever come out. Most of the actors from the franchise have expressed their dissatisfaction with Disney’s decision to fire James Gunn. Drax the Destroyer actor Dave Bautista has been the most outspoken of the gang, seemingly raging against the studio any chance that he gets in an attempt to get fired as well.

Marvel has been meeting with other directors, but it appears that nothing has worked out to get Guardians of the Galaxy 3 back on schedule. The firing came so abruptly that Marvel and Disney were not able to adequately prepare for James Gunn’s exit. Disney is usually pretty good with replacing directors in a timely manner. Ron Howard was brought in to take over Solo: A Star Wars Story from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and the production didn’t skip a beat. However, that project was already in production and nearly finished when Howard came on board.

James Gunn immediately apologized for his tasteless and offensive tweets, but the damage had already been done and Disney made the quick decision to fire the director within 24 hours of the tweets becoming public knowledge for the second time in a decade. The future of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is currently uncertain, which is a shame for fans who have been patiently waiting to see how the Guardians would end their trilogy after joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the massively popular Infinity War. For now, it looks like everybody, including the cast and crew, are going to have to wait and see what happens with the project. The Hollywood Reporter originally revealed the Guardians of the Galaxy 3 production news.